Do you listen to your conscience? The catechism reminds us of a lot of important things about our conscience and about how to use our conscience to make moral choices. First of all, we can’t just rely on our emotions. Our conscience is not just an inner "feeling" -- it is distinct from our emotional life and there may be moments when our emotions are conflicted but our conscience is clear.
Secondly, in paragraph 1784, the catechism reminds us “The education of the conscience is a lifelong task.” Thirdly, the catechism reminds us that there are specific things we should do to make sure we properly form our conscience, so we can use it to make decisions throughout life about what’s right or wrong.
You’re given your conscience as a gift. And it can be formed into a stronger and more nuanced voice.
Up Next in Unit 26 | Freedom, Morality, and Conscience
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What Does the Catholic Church say abo...
As human beings, we have free will, or, the freedom to choose how we behave in every situation. Our freedom comes with responsibility for our actions. We are responsible for choosing between right and wrong. Which means before any action we should discern: what is the right way to act in this sit...
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The Relationship Between Choice, Emot...
Do you ever feel controlled by your emotions? As human persons we have these two strong powers: the power to think and the power to feel. But this brings up a third very strong component of the human person: our free will. So the question we’re left with is: how will you use your free will to act?
